QoS-aware Wireless Back-haul network for rural areas in practice

Rural areas all over the world often lack affordable broadband Internet connectivity. This is particularly, but not solely, true for developing and emerging countries. Also rural areas in western countries share similar problems of high capital expenditure (CAPEX) and especially operational expenditure (OPEX) due to vast and sparsely populated areas, which often present an uneconomical environment for deploying traditional wireless carrier equipment. To address these issues, we have developed a carrier-grade heterogeneous multi-radio back-haul architecture which may be deployed to extend, complement or even replace traditional operator equipment. Our Wireless Back-Haul (WiBACK) technology extends the back-haul coverage by building on cost-effective and low-power equipment while still allowing for effective Quality of Service (QoS)-provisioning. In this paper we first present a pilot scenario in Hennef-Theishohn, Germany, where the residents of a remote farm are provided with broadband Internet connectivity using a long-distance, multi-hop WiBACK network. We evaluate the QoS-related performance of this network and show that we can meet QoS demands one expects from a carrier-grade network even under heavy load conditions.